BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland will host the Patriot League Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse Championships this week after winning both sports’ regular-season titles with 8-0 records.

Ridley Athletic Complex will serve as the backdrop for both Championships, starting with the women’s semifinals on Thursday, April 24. The top-seeded Greyhounds will host Colgate University, College of the Holy Cross or Lehigh University at 5 p.m. in the opening semifinal, while No. 2 seed U.S. Naval Academy will play Boston University, Colgate or Holy Cross at 7:30 p.m.

The semifinal winners will meet in the Championship Game at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 26.

Loyola’s men, which are ranked No. 1 in the nation, open their championship play on Friday, April 25, by hosting the first semifinal at 5 p.m. The Greyhounds will play Bucknell University, Colgate or Navy.

The U.S. Military Academy is the Championships’ No. 2 seed and will play in the second semifinal, starting Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Black Knights will face Bucknell, Colgate or Lehigh.

The Men’s Championship Game will be contested at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, and all three men’s games will air live on CBS Sports Network.

BALTIMORE – Brian Schultz scored a career-high six goals on just 10 shots, helping No. 1-ranked Loyola University Maryland defeat Bucknell University, 13-6, in the teams’ final Patriot League regular-season game of the year.

Schultz, who had a previous best of four goals earlier this season against Lafayette College, recorded a hat trick in the game’s first 25-plus minutes, helping Loyola take a 5-1 halftime lead.

He tallied another in the third, the final goal of a 7-0 Greyhounds run, and two in the fourth quarter.

The Loyola run, its 22nd of the season of 3-0 or better, started when slick passing led to a Matt Sawyer goal on the doorstep with 4:47left in the first quarter. Brian Sherlock sent a high-to-low pass from the top to Schultz on the right side. Schultz didn’t let the ball settle in his stick and immediate fed Sawyer on the crease for a goal that put Loyola up, 2-1.

Loyola’s defense played as big of a role in the run as its offense, as Bucknell missed on 20-straight shots and was shutout for a period of 37 minutes, 17 seconds.

Jack Runkel made 14 saves in goal for the Greyhounds (12-1 overall, 8-0 Patriot League), and Loyola forced 18 Bucknell (7-7, 4-4) turnovers. The Greyhounds caused 13 of the turnovers, led by a career-high five by Pat Laconi. Schultz and Jason Crane each had two for Loyola. Joe Fletcher led all players in the game with seven ground balls.

Fletcher also held the player he was defending, Bucknell’s David Dickson, without a point, snapping a streak of 41 games with at least one. It is the third time in four weeks that Fletcher has held an opponent without a point after he entered the game with a streak of 15 or more games (Colgate’s Ryan Walsh, 42; Navy’s T.J. Hanzsche, 15).

Schultz put Loyola on the board after more than seven minutes of scoreless lacrosse to start the game. Justin Ward, who had a goal and three assists, used a skip pass to find Schultz on the low right side, and Schultz finished with a nine-yard rip for a goal at 7:27.

Ryan Joseph, however, tied the game for Bucknell with a goal off Tom Black’s assist at 65 seconds later, but Sawyer’s goal at 4:47would put Loyola in front for good.

Nikko Pontrello fed Schultz from behind as Schultz was cutting to the middle of the field, and Schultz scored his second with 9:45 left in the first, and after a transition run, Kyle Duffy shot a cross-box pass from high-to-low to Pontrello who quickly shot low to score at 8:06.

Schultz completed his hat trick off another Ward assist at 4:54, sending Loyola into the locker room ahead by four.

Pontrello and Ward scored unassisted at 13:11 and 5:57 in the third quarter, and Tyler Albrecht fed Schultz for a goal from the right side at 5:22 to push Loyola’s lead to 8-1.

Ward saw Sherlock make a diagonal cut, threw him a pass, and Sherlock used a right-handed sidearm shot to score at 13:07. Schultz was then the recipient of a Kevin Ryan pass for his fifth of the night with 11:00 left in regulation.

Two-straight goals by the Bison’s Sean Doyle, both unassisted tallies, pulled Bucknell within six with 7:56 left, but Schultz fired in his sixth at 7:28, rolling from behind and beating his defender to the crease.

Thomas Filbotte added a Bucknell goal at 3:34, but Laconi scored off Fletcher’s first career assist, and Pontrello used another dodge from behind to tally the game’s final goal.

Graham Savio had another efficient day at the faceoff ‘X’ for Loyola, winning 13-of-20 and picking up five ground balls. Loyola also used a 39-31 advantage in ground balls to control the possession game.

In addition to Fletcher’s game-high seven, Kyle Duffy had four ground balls, and Runkel, Crane and Fournier each had three.

The Greyhounds will have more than a week off to prepare for their next game, a Patriot League Championships semifinal on Friday, April 25. Loyola will host the Patriot League semifinals and championship game at Ridley Athletic Complex.

The Greyhounds will play Bucknell, Colgate University or the U.S. Naval Academy in a 4:30 p.m. semifinal that will be aired live on CBS Sports Network. Tickets for the championship weekend are available at http://loyo.la/PLmlax14.

Loyola University Maryland plays its second-straight home game on Thursday, April 17, when it closes its Patriot League regular-season schedule at 7 o’clock against Bucknell University.

The Greyhounds are 5-0 this season, and 23-7 all-time at Ridley Athletic Complex.

With its 15-6 win last Saturday against Boston University, the Greyhounds earned at least a share of the Patriot League Regular-Season title and secured the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Championships and will host the event on April 25 and 27.

Justin Ward became the program’s single-season assist leader at the Division I level. He has 39 through 12 games this season, tying for seventh-most in Patriot League single-season history.

Joe Fletcher leads all close defenders nationally in ground balls per game with 51 total and 4.6 per game.

Pat Laconi is the top non-pole player nationally in caused turnovers (22) and caused turnovers per game (1.83) through games of April 13.

Justin Ward and Nikko Pontrello are both second nationally in assists (3.25) and goals per game (3.33), respectively.

Last Time Out

Nikko Pontrello and Kevin Ryan each had three-goal games, and Loyola clinched its first-ever Patriot League Regular-Season title last Saturday with a 15-6 victory over Boston University at Ridley Athletic Complex.

The Greyhounds led 4-1 at halftime, but Boston University got within two 1:04 into the second half before Loyola went on a 4-0 run that broke the game open.

Graham Savio won 17-of-25 faceoffs and had six ground balls in the game, as Loyola controlled the possession battle, picking up 47 ground balls to the Terriers’ 23.

Savio had a slim 4-of-7 advantage in the first half, but he then won 5-of-9 in the third quarter and 8-of-9 in the fourth.

In addition to his three goals, Pontrello had a five-point night with two assists, while Ryan had an assist, too. Brian Schultz scored twice and assisted on one, and Justin Ward recorded three assists against Boston University.

Five Greyhounds had five or more groundballs in the game, led by Savio’s six. Ward, Joe Fletcher, Ryan Fournier and Pat Laconi each picked up five.

Turn On The Television

Thursday’s game will be broadcast live, nationally on CBS Sports Network. Dave Ryan will call the play-by-play, and Evan Washburn will handle the analysis of the action.

The game is one of at least five that will feature the Greyhounds on the network. The entire Patriot League Championships, as well as game against Johns Hopkins University on May 3will be broadcast life. Loyola’s games versus Duke University and at Georgetown University were also on the network.

In The Polls

With Saturday’s win against Boston University, Loyola remained in the No. 1 spot of both the USILA coaches and Warrior/Inside Lacrosse media polls for the fourth week in a row.

The Greyhounds have been ranked No. 1 at some point in each of the last three seasons, most recently in the first polls of the 2012 season. This stretch is the longest the Greyhounds have been ranked first since spending nine-straight at the top from March 15-May 10, 1999.

Series History

Loyola will play Bucknell for the fourth time in series history but the first since April 2, 1983 when the Greyhounds defeated the Bison, 15-8. Loyola is 3-0 all-time in the series that was played in 1981, 1982 and 1983; a fourth game was scheduled for the 1984 season, but it was postponed due to weather and not rescheduled.

Get To Ten

Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 64 occasions. After defeating Boston University, 15-8, on Saturday, Loyola has won 81.5 percent of those games (53-12).

Since 2012

Loyola has the best winning percentage in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse since the start of the 2012 season. The Greyhounds are 40-7 during that stretch (18-1 in 2012, 11-5 in 2013 and 11-1 this season) for a .851 mark. Loyola’s winning percentage of .917 this season is the best nationally.

Only Duke has won more games (42) than Loyola during the run, but the Blue Devils are second to the Greyhounds in winning percentage by more than seven percent (42-12, .778).

Chart Toppers

A pair of Greyhounds attackers are near the top of two offensive categories through games of Monday, April 14, in both total goals and assists. Nikko Pontrello is second in Division I with 40 goals, while Justin Ward is second with 39 assists.

The duo is the No. 2 point-scoring tandem in the country with 99 combined points (Ward, 51; Pontrello, 48). Albany’s Lyle (73) and Miles (67) have a combined 140.

Tops Among Close Defenders

Joe Fletcher is second on Loyola in ground balls, total (54) and per game (4.50), this season, but more impressive than that, he paces all close defenders nationally in the categories. Fletcher is 46th overall in ground balls per game, while the 45 players who are ahead of him are either face-off specialists or long-stick midfielders who play on the wings during restarts.

And Short-Sticks, Too

Meanwhile, Pat Laconi leads all non-pole defenders nationally in caused turnovers and caused turnovers per game. He has caused 22 this season while averaging 1.83 per game. He is 13th in the nation, and the 12 players ahead of him in the rankings are all long-stick midfielders or close defenders.

Record-Setting Quarterback

Justin Ward has continued to be the quarterback of the Greyhounds’ offense this year, passing out 39 assists in 12 games. With his third and final assist last Saturday against Boston University, Ward passed Sean Heffernan for first-place in school single-season history at the Division I level.

He is second in the nation in total assists (39), and he is also second in the country and tops in the Patriot League, with 3.25 assists per game this year.

With four assists against Duke on March 9, Ward set Loyola’s career Division I record (since 1982) in total assists, eclipsing the mark of 83 set from 1989-92 by Jim Blanding. His three at Colgate gave him 100 for his career, making him the second player in program history ever to record 100.

Ward now has 106 career assists. Gary Hanley holds the all-time Loyola record with 160 assists. Ward is also seventh in school Division I history in total points with 157, one away from tying John Carroll (1984-87) for sixth place.

Ward is in his third year as a starter on attack for the Greyhound after earning USILA All-America Honorable Mention last year after finishing tops on the team in points (62) and assists (35) and second in goals (27). His 62 points ranked tied for fifth in school single-season Division I history, and his 35 assists check in at third on that list.

Pontrello Putting Up Points

Nikko Pontrello was held without a goal for the first time this season on April 5 against Navy, snapping a streak of 10-straight games to start the season that Pontrello had two or more goals. He rebounded, however, with three goals and two assists last Saturday versus Boston University. Through games of Monday, April 14, Pontrello is second in the nation in total goals with 40.

He scored two in the season-opener at Virginia and then had three each against Penn State and Towson before scoring a career-high six goals at Holy Cross. He then tallied four at Lehigh, five against Duke, three at Georgetown, five versus Lafayette and three against Colgate and Boston University.

Two of his goals have been game-winners in one-goal contests. Pontrello scored 19 seconds into overtime to give Loyola a 12-11 win at Penn State, and he then tallied one with 51.4 seconds left in regulation to push the Greyhounds past Georgetown, 10-9.

Pontrello leads the Greyhound and the Patriot League with 40 goals and is second behind Justin Ward for the team- and League-lead with 48 points through 12 games.

He leads the Patriot League and is second nationally in goals per game (3.33), while he is second and 14th in points per game (4.00).

Stopping Shots

After opening the season with a .214 save percentage in the opener at Virginia, Jack Runkel has played to a .638 mark, saving 118 out of 185 shots on goal he’s faced. In a six-game stretch against Towson, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Duke and Army, Runkel made 61 saves and allowed just 26 goals (.701).

The senior goalkeeper, who earned 2012 NCAA Championships All-Tournament honors, has a goals against average of 7.02 this season and a cumulative saves percentage of .608 through 12 games. He is third in the nation in both saves percentage and goals against average.

In three years as a starter for the Greyhounds, Runkel has a 7.73 goals against average and .562 saves percentage; he is fifth in Loyola’s Division I history (since 1982) with 419 career saves. Runkel’s record between the pipes is 38-6. He is second in wins among active goalkeepers, trailing only Maryland’s Niko Amato who has 42 victories. Amato (as of Monday), however, Amato is a four-year starter, while Runkel did not start until early in his sophomore season.

Runkel picked up his fourth-straight Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honor on March 17, becoming the first player in League history to win any of the weekly honors (Offensive, Defensive, Goalkeeper or Rookie) four-consecutive times. His honor on March 31 made him the first player in League history to earn five in a season.

Fletch, White And Blue

Senior defender Joe Fletcher was the lone current collegiate player selected as part of one of 52 players who made up the United States Men’s National Team training roster this fall, and the day before Loyola’s season-opener, he found out he is one of 30 players who made the cut for the team that will compete at the 2014 World Cup in Denver.

Against Holy Cross, Fletcher set a career-high with eight ground balls, eclipsing his previous total of seven set on five different occasions. In a pair of games against Towson and the Crusaders, he had 11 ground balls and three caused turnovers.

He later had seven ground balls and causing a turnover against Duke. He also was primarily responsible for holding the Blue Devils’ All-American attacker Jordan Wolf to one goal.

Versus Colgate, Fletcher was matched up against Ryan Walsh, and he held the Raiders’ leading scorer without a goal or assist for the first time in his career, a total of 42 prior games. He then marked Navy’s T.J. Hanzsche, holding him without a point for the first time in 15 games.

Fletcher has been named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week four times this year, the most any player in conference history has earned the award. He is second on the Greyhounds with 54 ground balls and caused turnovers (18). His 63 career caused turnovers are third all-time at Loyola behind the 90 of P.T. Ricci and 88 of Scott Ratliff.

As good of a match-up defender as Fletcher is, he is as good off the ground. He leads all close defenders nationally with 54 ground balls and 4.50 per game.

Not Just Defensive Midfield

Short-stick defensive midfielder Pat Laconi was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week on March 3 after matching his career-high with two goals at Lehigh.

The senior, who is a team co-captain and Preseason All-American, had a goal an assist versus Army, a goal at Georgetown and an assist versus Navy, and one of each versus Boston University bringing his season totals to seven goals and three assists. He now has 12 goals and 12 assists in his four-year career.

Laconi posted four ground balls, matching his career-high, and three caused turnovers at Colgate, the final of each coming with less than 25 seconds remaining to help seal the win. He caused another three turnovers a week later at Navy. His team-leading 22 caused turnovers this season have brought his career total to 63, fourth-most in school history.

Taking Care Of The Ball

Loyola continues to lead the nation in fewest turnovers per game, averaging 10.42 through 12 contests. The Greyhounds have committed 1.33 fewer turnovers per game than the second-place team in the nation, Towson, a team that committed 18 turnovers earlier this year against Loyola.

The Greyhounds also lead the nation in clearing percentage at .940.

Near The Top At Both Sides

The Greyhounds is the only team to be in the top five of scoring offense and defense at the Division I level. Loyola’s goals per game (13.25) rank fifth, and its goals allowed (7.17) are fourth. As a result, Loyola leads the nation in scoring margin (+6.08).

While it is fourth nationally in scoring defense, Loyola is just third in the Patriot League in the category. Army (1st, 5.70) and Lehigh (2nd, 6.50) both rank ahead of the Greyhounds nationally.

Games Of Runs

Loyola has used significant runs in all 12 of its games this season, and it has had five stretches of seven or more unanswered goals. In all the Greyhounds have 21 runs of 3-0 or better. Here is a look at their four best scoring stretches:

Opponent

Run

Time Covered

Opponent

Run

Time Covered

at Holy Cross

14-0

38:58

Lafayette

12-0

26:53

Towson

10-0

16:38

at Virginia

9-0

14:18

Schultz Stepping Up

In his first year as a starter on attack for the Greyhounds, senior Brian Schultz has scored 21 goals, second-most on the team through 12 games. He also had the game-winning goal 12 seconds into the second overtime at Navy.

Entering this season, Schultz had seen most of his playing time on extra-man opportunities for the Greyhounds, posting a combined three goals and five assists.

Tewaaraton Watch Trio, Senior CLASS Award Pair

Two of Loyola’s senior co-captains were named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List when it was released in February. Joe Fletcher and Justin Ward were among the 50 players nationally to receive recognition in February. Additionally, junior attacker Nikko Pontrello was added to the Watch List on March 20.

Fletcher and Ward were also two of 20 players nationally to be named candidates for the Senior CLASS Award that seniors who have performed at a high level athletically and in the classroom and who have used their platforms as student-athletes to make positive impacts in the community. Earlier this month, they were selected as two of the award’s 10 finalists for this year.

The greatest rivalry in the history of college lacrosse lead to a major shift in the sport’s weekly polls Monday.

Johns Hopkins raced past previous #3 ranked Maryland Saturday, posting an 11-6 victory over the Terps at Homewood Field. Hopkins moved up in the rankings thanks to the win while the Terrapins slid in both polls. Loyola remained #1 in both polls after crushing Boston University 15-6 Saturday for their 11th straight win and the Patriot League regular season title. Towson fell out of the polls after dropping an 8-1 decision to Penn State Saturday night.

Here are the new weekly lacrosse polls (courtesy of NCAA.com), staring with the Inside Lacrosse media poll…

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Following the a career-high performance on Saturday afternoon, Loyola University Maryland freshman faceoff specialist Graham Savio was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week.

Savio helped the top-ranked Greyhounds (11-1 overall, 7-0 Patriot League) control the possession game Saturday against Boston University in a 15-6 victory that clinched the Patriot League Regular-Season title and earned Loyola the right to host the 2014 Patriot League Championships, April 25-27, at Ridley Athletic Complex.

The freshman from Greenwich, Conn., won 17-of-25 restarts and picked up six ground balls. He did so against the Terriers’ Sam Talkow who entered the game second in the League in faceoff percentage.

Savio’s 17 faceoff wins and six ground balls were both career-highs. This season, Savio has won 55.6 percent of faceoffs he’s taken (110-of-198), and he leads the Greyhounds with 55 ground balls.

He is the third Loyola player to win Rookie of the Week honors this season, joining midfielders Romar Dennis (February 10) and Brian Sherlock (February 24). Overall, the Greyhounds have won 17 weekly honors from the conference this season.

Loyola wraps up its Patriot League regular-season schedule on Thursday, April 17, at 7 p.m. when it hosts Bucknell University. The game will air live on CBS Sports Network.

BALTIMORE – Loyola University Maryland clinched the 2014 Patriot League Men’s Lacrosse Regular-Season Championship on Saturday with a 15-6 victory over visiting Boston University Saturday afternoon at Ridley Athletic Complex.

The top-ranked Greyhounds, who are in their first season in the conference, will host the Patriot League Championships as the top seed. The semifinals will take place Friday, April 25, at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m., with the winners meeting Sunday, April 27, at1 p.m. in the title game. All three contests will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.

Tickets for the Championships will go on sale Monday at 9 a.m. on LoyolaGreyhounds.com/tickets.

Graham Savio won 17-of-25 faceoffs, picking up six ground balls, for Loyola (11-1 overall, 7-0 Patriot League), while Kevin Ryan and Nikko Pontrello each scored three goals for the Greyhounds. Pontrello also added two assists, while Brian Schultz had two goals and an assist, and Justin Ward passed out three helpers.

With his third assist of the game, Ward set the program’s single-season Division I record with 39, breaking the mark of Sean Heffernan (38, 1994).

Boston University scored the game’s first goal as Alex Paroda scored his first of the year in transition, but Loyola scored four-straight, capped by a Jeff Chase goal out of a two-man game with Kevin Ryan on the left side, 4:27 before halftime.

Chase’s goal, however, was Loyola’s only of the second quarter, sending the teams to the locker room with the Greyhounds in front, 4-1.

The Terriers (1-10, 1-6) made it a two-goal game 1:04 into the second half when Craig Zebrowski got free down the right side for a goal. It broke a scoreless stretch of 30 minutes, 8 seconds for Boston University.

Loyola, however, opened the game back up with a 4-0 run starting when Pontrello fed a crashing Ryan at 11:22. Brian Sherlock then used a sharp split-dodge to get free of his defender and score 57 seconds later, and Romar Dennis face-dodged on the left side, pulled up and ripped a 12-yard shot to make it 7-2 Greyhounds.

Pontrello had his second assist of the quarter at 8:08 when he fed Brian Schultz for a goal from the left side at 8:08. Boston University scored two in a row to get back within four, 8-4, as Chad Bell and Samm Davis tallied goals at 6:30 and 5:48.

With 1:34 left in the third, however, Ward picked up a ground ball near the crease and used a skip pass in an unsettled situation to find Tyler Albrecht on the weak side for a goal.

The Terriers had a possession early in the fourth quarter, but Pat Laconi stripped Cal Dreath of the ball, picked up the grounder, ran a clear and dumped a pass to a trailing Ryan Fournier for a goal at 13:26, pushing the lead to 10-4.

Dearth, however, was involved in the next two goals for the Terriers, feeding Sam Tenney at 12:15 for a man-up score before tallying one of his own at 7:12.

The Greyhounds, however, scored the game’s final five goals, the first two by Schultz and Pontrello coming in the 27 seconds after Dearth’s tally.

Dennis, Laconi and Matt Sawyer each finished with a goal and an assist for the Greyhounds. Savio’s 17 faceoff wins, the majority of which came off the Terriers’ Sam Taklow who was second in the Patriot League with a .596 success rate entering the game, were a career-high.

Loyola also had a significant advantage in ground balls, picking up 47 to Boston University’s 23, led by Savio’s six. Ward, Laconi, Fournier and Jack Runkel each had five, while Pontrello had four.

Joe Fletcher picked up three ground balls and had three caused turnovers, while Laconi caused two turnovers. Runkel posted 10 saves in goal for Loyola, and Pat McEnerney made one in the final 4:16.

Loyola closed Patriot League regular-season action Thursday, April 17, when it hosts Bucknell University in a 7 p.m. game that will also be broadcast on CBS Sports Network.

Loyola University Maryland opens a three-game regular-season homestand on Saturday, April 12, when it hosts Boston University at 1 p.m.

The Greyhounds are 4-0 this season, and 22-7, all-time at Ridley Athletic Complex.

Loyola has clinched one of the top two seeds in the April 25-27 Patriot League Championships and thus secured a by to the semifinals. The Greyhounds can clinch the Patriot League regular-season title, and earn the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for the semifinal and championship games, with a win over Boston University or Bucknell University (April 17) or a loss by the U.S. Military Academy to the U.S. Naval Academy (Saturday) or Colgate University (April 18).

The Greyhounds have not allowed an extra-man goal in the last three games, holding opponents scoreless on four man-up possessions during the stretch. Boston University, meanwhile leads the Patriot League with 19 extra-man goals this year.

Joe Fletcher leads all close defenders nationally in ground balls per game with 51 total and 4.6 per game.

Last Time Out

Brian Sherlock picked up the ground ball off a Graham Savio faceoff win to start the second overtime period, sent a pass to Justin Ward low in the offensive box, and Ward passed cross-crease to Brian Schultz who scored the game-winner last Saturday in a 7-6 win at the U.S. Naval Academy.

The Greyhounds took their first lead of the game at the end of a 3-0 third-quarter run when Ward scored with 2:53 left in the stanza.

The Midshipmen, however, evened the score at 6-6 Gabe Voumard’s second of the game 5:28 into the final period of regulation, and the game ended up in overtime.

Jack Runkel made nine saves for Loyola, the last coming midway through the first overtime on a behind-the-head shot by Tucker Hull from the doorstep. The Midshipmen had another shot go off the pipe in the opening overtime.

Ward led all players with four points, scoring a goal and assisting on three, while Sherlock posted a team-best two goals.

Joe Fletcher had seven ground balls, and Pat Laconi caused three turnovers and had a transition assist.

Follow The Action

Saturday’s game, and all non-televised Patriot League games, will be broadcast on the Patriot League Network. Brent Harris of Comcast SportsNet and NBC Sports Network will call the play-by-play action

Log on to PatriotLeague.tv to watch the home games on your computer, web-enabled televisions and most mobile devices.

In The Polls

With Saturday’s win at Navy, Loyola remained in the No. 1 spot of both the USILA coaches and Warrior/Inside Lacrosse media polls for the third week in a row.

The Greyhounds have been ranked No. 1 at some point in each of the last three seasons, most recently in the first polls of the 2012 season. This stretch is the longest the Greyhounds have been ranked first since spending nine-straight at the top from March 15-May 10, 1999.

Series History

Loyola will play Boston University, a first-year program, for the first time when the teams take the field Saturday. The Terriers are also in their first year as a member of the Patriot League. They joined the conference in June 2012, and Loyola accepted its membership less than two months later.

Get To Ten

Since Charley Toomey became head coach at Loyola in 2006, the Greyhounds have scored 10 or more goals on 64 occasions. After defeating Colgate, 10-8, on March 29, Loyola has won 81.3 percent of those games (52-12).

Since 2012

Loyola has the best winning percentage in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse since the start of the 2012 season. The Greyhounds are 39-7 during that stretch (18-1 in 2012, 11-5 in 2013 and 10-1 this season) for a .848 mark. Loyola’s winning percentage of .909 this season is the best nationally.

Only Duke has won more games (41) than Loyola during the run, but the Blue Devils are second to the Greyhounds in winning percentage by more than seven percent (41-12, .774).

Chart Toppers

A pair of Greyhounds attackers are at or near the top of two offensive categories through games of Tuesday, April 8, in both total goals and assists. Nikko Pontrello is second in Division I with 37 goals, while Justin Ward is second with 36 assists.

The duo is the No. 2 point-scoring tandem in the country with 91 combined points (Ward, 48; Pontrello, 43). Albany’s Lyle (65) and Miles (60) have a combined 125.

Tops Among Close Defenders

Joe Fletcher leads Loyola in ground balls, total (51) and per game (4.64), this season, but more impressive than that, he paces all close defenders nationally in the categories. Fletcher is 42nd overall in ground balls per game, while the 41 players who are ahead of him are either face-off specialists or long-stick midfielders who play on the wings during restarts.

Record-Setting Quarterback

Justin Ward has continued to be the quarterback of the Greyhounds’ offense this year, passing out 30 assists in the last eight contests and 36 overall. He is second in the nation in total assists (36), and he is also third in the country and tops in the Patriot League, with 3.27 assists per game this year. His 36 assists are already third-most in school Division I single-season history, one off Brian Duffy’s No. 2 total of 37 in 1995 and two shy of tying Sean Heffernan’s single-season record from 1994.

With four assists against Duke, Ward set Loyola’s career Division I record (since 1982) in total assists, eclipsing the mark of 83 set from 1989-92 by Jim Blanding. His three at Colgate gave him 100 for his career, making him the second player in program history ever to record 100. Gary Hanley holds the all-time Loyola record with 160 assists. Ward is also ninth in school Division I history in total points with 153, one away from tying former teammate Mike Sawyer, who was on the receiving end of many of his assists, for eighth.

Ward is in his third year as a starter on attack for the Greyhound after earning USILA All-America Honorable Mention last year after finishing tops on the team in points (62) and assists (35) and second in goals (27). His 62 points ranked tied for fifth in school single-season Division I history, and his 35 assists check in at third on that list.

Pontrello Putting Up Points

Nikko Pontrello was held without a goal for the first time this season on Saturday against Navy, snapping a streak of 10-straight games to start the season that Pontrello had two or more goals. Through games of Tuesday, April 8, Pontrello is second in the nation in total goals with 37.

He scored two in the season-opener at Virginia and then had three each against Penn State and Towson before scoring a career-high six goals at Holy Cross. He then tallied four at Lehigh, five against Duke, three at Georgetown, five versus Lafayette and three against Colgate

Two of his goals have been game-winners in one-goal contests. Pontrello scored 19 seconds into overtime to give Loyola a 12-11 win at Penn State, and he then tallied one with 51.4 seconds left in regulation to push the Greyhounds past Georgetown, 10-9.

Pontrello leads the Greyhounds with 37 goals and is second behind Justin Ward for the team-lead with 43 points through 11 games.

He leads the Patriot League and is second nationally in goals per game (3.70), while he is second and 11th in points per game (4.30).

Stopping Shots

After opening the season with a .214 save percentage in the opener at Virginia, Jack Runkel has played to a .639 mark, saving 108 out of 170 shots on goal he’s faced. In a six-game stretch against Towson, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Duke and Army, Runkel made 61 saves and allowed just 26 goals (.701).

The senior goalkeeper, who earned 2012 NCAA Championships All-Tournament honors, has a goals against average of 7.07 this season and a cumulative saves percentage of .607 through 11 games. He is fourth in the nation in both saves percentage and goals against average.

In three years as a starter for the Greyhounds, Runkel has a 7.75 goals against average and .561 saves percentage; he is fifth in Loyola’s Division I history (since 1982) with 400 career saves. Runkel’s record between the pipes is 36-6. He is second in wins among active goalkeepers, trailing only Maryland’s Niko Amato who has 42 victories. Amato (as of Monday), however, Amato is a four-year starter, while Runkel did not start until early in his sophomore season.

Runkel picked up his fourth-straight Patriot League Goalkeeper of the Week honor on March 17, becoming the first player in League history to win any of the weekly honors (Offensive, Defensive, Goalkeeper or Rookie) four-consecutive times. His honor on March 31 made him the first player in League history to earn five in a season.

Fletch, White And Blue

Senior defender Joe Fletcher was the lone current collegiate player selected as part of one of 52 players who made up the United States Men’s National Team training roster this fall, and the day before Loyola’s season-opener, he found out he is one of 30 players who made the cut for the team that will compete at the 2014 World Cup in Denver.

Against Holy Cross, Fletcher set a career-high with eight ground balls, eclipsing his previous total of seven set on five different occasions. In a pair of games against Towson and the Crusaders, he had 11 ground balls and three caused turnovers.

He later had seven ground balls and causing a turnover against Duke. He also was primarily responsible for holding the Blue Devils’ All-American attacker Jordan Wolf to one goal.

Versus Colgate, Fletcher was matched up against Ryan Walsh, and he held the Raiders’ leading scorer without a goal or assist for the first time in his career, a total of 42 prior games. He then marked Navy’s T.J. Hanzsche, holding him without a point for the first time in 15 games.

Fletcher has been named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week four times this year, the most any player in conference history has earned the award. He is second on the Greyhounds with 44 ground balls and caused turnovers (14). His 59 career caused turnovers are third all-time at Loyola behind the 90 of P.T. Ricci and 88 of Scott Ratliff.

As good of a match-up defender as Fletcher is, he is as good off the ground. He leads all close defenders nationally with 51 ground balls and 4.64 per game.

Not Just Defensive Midfield

Short-stick defensive midfielder Pat Laconi was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week on March 3 after matching his career-high with two goals at Lehigh.

The senior, who is a team co-captain and Preseason All-American, had a goal an assist versus Army, a goal at Georgetown and an assist versus Navy, bringing his season totals to six goals an two assists. He now has 11 goals and 11 assists in his four-year career.

Laconi posted four ground balls, matching his career-high, and three caused turnovers at Colgate, the final of each coming with less than 25 seconds remaining to help seal the win. He caused another three turnovers a week later at Navy. His team-leading 20 caused turnovers this season have brought his career total to 62, third most in school history.

Taking Care Of The Ball

Loyola continues to lead the nation in fewest turnovers per game, averaging 10.27 through 1 contests. The Greyhounds have committed 1.37 fewer turnovers per game than the second-place team in the nation, Marquette.

Near The Top At Both Sides

The Greyhounds is the only team to be in the top five of scoring offense and defense at the Division I level. Loyola’s goals per game (13.09) rank fifth, and its goals allowed (7.27) are fourth.

While it is fourth nationally in scoring defense, Loyola is just third in the Patriot League in the category. Army (1st, 5.70) and Lehigh (2nd, 6.50) both rank ahead of the Greyhounds nationally.

Man-Up Success

Loyola has converted on just under half of its man-up possessions this year, scoring 15 goals on 32 opportunities. Its .469 success rate is good for 11th in NCAA Division I through games of Monday, April 7.

Nikko Pontrello leads the way with five man-up goals, while Kevin Ryan has four and Matt Sawyer and Brian Schultz each have two.

Nine of Loyola’s extra-man goals have been assisted by Justin Ward.

Games Of Runs

Loyola has used significant runs in all 11 of its games this season, and it has had five stretches of seven or more unanswered goals. In all the Greyhounds have 18 runs of 3-0 or better. Here is a look at their four best scoring stretches:

Opponent

Run

Time Covered

Opponent

Run

Time Covered

at Holy Cross

14-0

38:58

Lafayette

12-0

26:53

Towson

10-0

16:38

at Virginia

9-0

14:18

Five-Plus For Two

Matt Sawyer scored six goals, and Nikko Pontrello tallied five for the Greyhounds on March 9 against Duke, marking the first time in over a decade that two Loyola players have scored five or more in the same game.

The last pair to do so was Gavin Prout (six) and Tim Goettelmann (five) in a 14-9 win on March 25, 2000, at 14th-ranked Brown University.

Schultz Stepping Up

In his first year as a starter on attack for the Greyhounds, senior Brian Schultz has scored 19 goals, second-most on the team through 11 games. He also had the game-winning goal 12 seconds into the second overtime at Navy.

Entering this season, Schultz had seen most of his playing time on extra-man opportunities for the Greyhounds, posting a combined three goals and five assists.

Tewaaraton Watch Trio, Senior CLASS Award Pair

Two of Loyola’s senior co-captains were named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List when it was released in February. Joe Fletcher and Justin Ward were among the 50 players nationally to receive recognition.

They were also two of 20 players nationally to be named candidates for the Senior CLASS Award that seniors who have performed at a high level athletically and in the classroom and who have used their platforms as student-athletes to make positive impacts in the community.

In addition to the senior duo that is on the Tewaaraton Award Watch List, junior attacker Nikko Pontrello was also named to the group on March 20.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a trailer that has made me want to see a movie LESS than Draft Day. But since Monday was the 25th anniversary of a REALLY good movie about a Cleveland sports franchise, let’s just remember that.

The #1 ranked Loyola Greyhounds survived a major Patriot League scare Saturday, topping Navy 7-6 in 2OT and holding on to their spot atop the rankings. Elsewhere in local lacrosse action this weekend, Johns Hopkins shook off a three game losing streak by beating Albany 13-8 Friday night at Homewood Field and Towson scored their biggest win of the season by going on the road and outlasting previous #11 UMass 6-5.

Maryland was idle this weekend after throttling Robert Morris 19-6 Wednesday night. This has set the stage for a major top ten showdown between the Terps and Blue Jays this coming Saturday afternoon.

Here is a look at both of the new weekly lacrosse polls (courtesy of NCAA.com). We’ll start with the new Inside Lacrosse media poll.